Student Faces Academic Charges for Using Facebook Groups for his Class
March 8th, 2008 | by jessestay |If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
In I’m on Facebook — Now What??? we suggest building a Facebook Group for your School Class in order to collaborate with other classmates. Doing so can be an excellent way to get help with your questions about the material and meet with other classmates that are also studying your subject of learning. Facebook is a tool that can be used to mimic real-life situations, and Facebook Groups within an academic setting can be a great way to simulate a study group in real life.
Just recently, one student at Ryerson University in Toronto was punished for using Facebook in this manner. Freshman Chris Avenir managed a group on Facebook used as a Study Group for a Chemistry class he was taking. The University termed this as “cheating”, and now Chris faces disciplinary hearings from the school and possibly termination from studying there.
There is no mention of the University’s opinion on the matter, but I do feel this is a shame. I guess this serves as a warning for other students that before organizing such a group on Facebook, a site originally written as an aide to students, students should seek the opinion of their teacher or professor before organizing such.
It is my hope that Ryerson University re-considers their decision. For an organization trying to target a younger audience, such decisions that show the University’s misunderstanding of such online tools will most definitely defer future students from considering attendance at such a University. It’s my suggestion that the administrators at Ryerson University read I’m on Facebook — Now What??? and instead see how they can utilize Facebook within their organization to improve the quality of their students’ education. I have a free copy waiting for them if they’re interested. 
Tags: facebook education, Facebook Groups, facebook school, ryerson university
3 Responses to “Student Faces Academic Charges for Using Facebook Groups for his Class”
By Laura Moncur on Mar 8, 2008 | Reply
Just goes to show how useless universities are going to be in the future. When all of MIT’s lectures are online for free, it’s not about where you went but about what you know.
Bye, bye Ryerson…
By Michael Bergman on Apr 14, 2008 | Reply
Thought the movement by blackboard towards facebook was interesting - http://mashable.com/2007/10/25/coursefeed-facebook-app/
By Josh on Apr 15, 2008 | Reply
Wow.
That’s out of control! How is it that so often those running universities are so out of touch?
It’s a shame as there are currently few (if any) college degrees that adequately prepare students to be involved in the web world…this is just a perfect example of that.